NFL Irish Duds and Studs

Notre Dame alum's had some ups and downs in the first week of the NFL season. So just for fun, here are the Duds and Studs from week 1:

Duds

Anthony Fasano: Per ESPN's AFC East Blog: In Sunday's opener, he caught two passes and fumbled them both -- one of them on the Falcons' 16-yard line.

John Sullivan: Replacing All-Pro center Matt Birk is hard enough, but having to face All-Pro Shaun Rodgers in week 1 may be harder. Sullivan showed Vikings fans that he still has some learning to do after being dominated by Rodgers Sunday, the low point coming when Sully was called for holding and still let up a sack.Brady Quinn: On the other side of the Browns / Vikings game, BQ got his first season-opening start with the Browns. While managing the game adequately in the first half, an interception and fluke fumble in the second half served as turning points in the game. On the bright side, BQ did lead the Browns on their first touchdown drive at home since Week 9 of last season (yikes!).

Studs

John Carlson: It looks like Carlson will be able to surpass his mark of 5 TD receptions last season. The ND grad hauled in six passes for 95 yards and 2 TDs in week 1.
Julius Jones: While Carlson led the Seahawks in receiving yards, Jones set the tempo on the ground to the tune of 117 yards at 6.2 YPC. Hopefully this is a sign of Jones finally getting the breakout NFL season Irish fans have been waiting for.

Justin Tuck: 1.5 sacks a game is almost the norm for this pro-bowler.

Victor Abiramiri: Perhaps the least likely out of all of these players to score a touchdown in week 1, Abiramiri aided in the Eagle's throttling of the Panthers by scooping and scoring on Sunday. Nice job Vick!

Monday Nite!

The Browns haven't had a Monday night game since I got my driver's license, and even though it's still the preseason, I was pumped to see the Brady Bowl Part Deux on display in prime time last night. Little did I know that bush league penalties, and a future fantasy stud (Domenik Hixon - draft him while you still can) would crash my party harder than paparazzi at the Beer Olympics.

On the brighter side of a 23 - 3 first quarter drubbing, Irish alumnus Justin Tuck enjoyed some Janice-McAlarney-esque face time. While the Giants lost a very good defensive lineman and a great personality in Michael Strahan, they seem to have an excellent replacement in Tuck, who in addition to playing a major role in the G's super bowl win, also caused a very good (I think...) Browns offensive line considerable trouble last night. At one point the announcers even hypothesized if the Giants could eventually become "Justin Tuck's team" (rather than Manning's). Go get 'em you beast.
The Brown's inability to defend the Giant's rush resulted in Anderson taking a pretty hard hit from Osi Umenyiora that knocked him out of the game and gave Quinn the opportunity to take some extra snaps. Brady looked pretty good overall, completing 7/12 passes for 124 yards and a touchdown (although the TD would have been a pick if not for a great play by all-name receiver Syndric Steptoe), and he also displayed good mobility in the pocket when he was pressured.
After earning praise from the coaches for his play in summer practices, Travis Thomas continued his struggles in live play against the Giants. The former Irish RB/LB was pushed back into his punter to force a safety, and he looked a little lost on offense, getting only 2 carries for 7 yards and being a non-factor in the screen game.

In relatively unrelated news, I'm happy to announce that one of my favorite Notre Dame blogs, The House Rock Built, has been resurrected after a deathly long offseason and is back to cranking out some good stuff. So if you're not getting enough laughs here, give it a read.